Posted on 03/06/2004 8:24:07 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
EDINBURG — With general voting in the primary election just days away, the Texas Rangers have begun an investigation of the mail ballot fraud allegations that arose last week.
Texas Ranger Sgt. Israel Pacheco said he started his inquiry Thursday after meeting with Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro to get details of the complaints.
There is no deadline for this investigation, Pacheco said. "We’ll just be looking into things as they come."
Two voters in McAllen and two in Weslaco, all older than 65, complained that when their mail ballots arrived, they were already sealed and included a note: "Just sign here."
The complaints were lodged with the elections administration Feb. 24. Two days later, Navarro said she received a mail ballot request from an individual who died in 2001.
Navarro and Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said they suspected the complaints stemmed from the work of paid political operatives known in the Rio Grande Valley as politiqueras.
Pacheco has been given the victim names and the names of the politiqueras they suspect are responsible for the fraud, Navarro said.
The Texas Rangers were assigned the cases after Navarro forwarded the complaints to Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey S. Connor, who in turn moved them to the state Attorney General.
Pacheco said the investigation does not have a timeline and that the scope will be determined by the amount of information he receives. While Guerra’s office first had indicated it would not have the staff to investigate the ballot fraud claims, he has agreed to prosecute should the Rangers build a case.
"We’ve already talked to the DA’s office and they confirmed they will take the case," Pacheco said.
"(The DA’s office) will consider any case generated by our office or any law enforcement having to do with voter fraud," Guerra said. "We don’t want to protect any vote fraud."
Friday was the last day of early voting. General voting in the primary begins Tuesday.
"This (investigation) is a good, positive thing they’re not waiting until after the election," Navarro said. "I’m glad they are not waiting until after the voting, that they’re interviewing people now."
By Friday afternoon, more than 30,000 Hidalgo County residents had voted, Navarro said.
——— Ryan Gabrielson covers Pharr, San Juan, Alamo
Rat caca!
Yeah, it's only one county away from Duval County, where such fraud gave us LBJ, and led to the debacle of the Vietnam War.
Shocked that there is election fraud in S. Texas? In Lloyd Doggett's RAT district no doubt? Not there, no way. </ Sarcasm>
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